What Have We Learned?

By: Visayas Outpost

“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil

to one who is striking at the root.”

-Henry David Thoreau

February 16, 2023

That is an aerial view of the chemical fire in Palestine, Ohio, looking for all the world like a bruise on the Earth.  As the story is still unfolding, and seems to be competing with “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” as the distraction du-jour, let me doff my hat to the man who surely ignited all this media firestorm:  Mr. Seymour Hersh.  By now you have undoubtedly read his work on the Nordstream pipeline sabotage, a story which itself still has more pages to be turned. 

Nordstream should not come as a shock to anyone paying attention.  Between Cognitive Warfare and the downright evil machinations of the Borg, we need distraction events to round out the narrative intake.  It keeps us from noticing the real stories, like the US attacking its own NATO allies, or Pfizer producing vaccines they knew had a 44% miscarriage rate in women.  You know, the actual stories that you mustn’t focus on lest civilization itself be undermined.  So balloons, funny clouds, earthquakes, anything will do.  Literally just 20 minutes ago Mrs. Outpost sent me a link about a fireball streaking through the Texas sky.  Yes, Facebook will be all abuzz, so congratulations to the ever-vigilant netizens who like to poke this giant beehive.  Take a lunch break, take a deep breath.  Enjoy a smoke. 

Let me share with you the Outpost perspective on Palestine, Ohio, which you will not hear anywhere else:

This train wreck is like a 2023 version of “For Want of a Nail”.  Starting with misguided goals of government, leading to various policies at Norfolk Southern, to changes in maintenance, or routes, or cargo arrangement, or work schedules, etc.  You can see where this is going.  Safety systems didn’t catch an axle fire, kaboom.  But the worst part of the story was after the carnage of the wreck itself; the decision to ‘burn off’ the chemical spill.  What can we learn from all this?   

First, it was inevitable. 

Just like the Exxon Valdez, just like the Deepwater Horizon.  Preventable yes, but inevitable in a world of complexity.  There is no point trying to blame greedy corporations, inept government, or Trump, or supply chains.  The same end-result could have occurred whether a CIA operative jammed the axle by remote control, or a maintenance worker didn’t repack the wheel bearing, or someone like myself who barely passed Chemistry ordered the burn-off.  The lesson is not sh*t happens… the lesson is that complex systems are inherently flawed.  Those flaws eventually lead to catastrophe, whether unintended or caused.  They are designed to fail, in a sense.

It is why the Borg likes Centralization and global authorities.  It prefers giant business systems with a myriad of failure points, like a space shuttle blowing up due to an O-ring, or a crypto-finance company vanishing from a computer glitch.  It prefers a system so complex that only they can contain it with their supposed “AI” algorithms.  Then, there won’t be anyone at all to blame when it all hits the fan, because “the AI” already chose the best possible course.  “What, you could have done better?  Chalk it up to an act of God.”

There was a time when business and industry were fanatical about driving down risk, measuring it by processes like Six Sigma and ISO-9000.  But I have noticed this emphasis dwindling in Industry over the last ten years.  Perhaps you have seen it happening in other spheres.  Banking certainly is no longer driven by risk management.  Med/Pharma would like to load you up with as many drugs and chemicals as possible, rather than actually improve your health.  Education passes over the simple and basic essentials, in favor of ever-more ‘nuanced learning’.  Trains derail and food warehouses burn, and it’s all just rather…inexplicable.  In fact, it is a lot like the crumbling society depicted in Atlas Shrugged, and the people are just as mystified by what is happening to their once great society.   

Second, they never pass up a good crisis. 

So rather than contain the spill in-situ, it was decided to burn it, creating a cloud of Dioxin and other compounds that is drifting into the Northeast, Canada, and beyond.  Rather than warn the local citizens and start evacuations, they have apparently been told not to worry about a thing.  Don’t believe your common sense, as your chickens die or your dog gets sick; those are only coincidences.  Just shelter in place, and if you get cancer in the in the future well then that will also be a coincidence.  I am forced to wonder why a cloud of Dioxin gas drifting over the country seems to be no big deal.  Then again, the Chinese balloon was no big deal, so maybe I’m an alarmist… and all these stories are seeded on-line by Russian disinfo bots? Watch as it continues to develop, but prudence demands caution if you are in an affected area.

After witnessing the last three years’ antics one can only conclude our world is either being run by the most inept leaders in history, or they are actively trying to kill us off.  I know which one seems obvious to me.  As the loons so often ask with questions like “how many have to die before you’ll get a vaccine,” let me bounce it back: How many will die from this dioxin cloud?  Let’s see the projections.  That is all they seem to do in the halls of power, consulting mathematical models for everything.  So where is it?  Maybe they need more time to study that, even though they didn’t need any time at all to project Covid risk.  Better just to bury the data and create more obfuscation later when required.

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“In a world of complexity, simplicity is Power.”

-unknown missionary speaker, circa 2008

What can you do about it?  Simplify. Simplify. 

Disasters, Crises, and Wars cannot be avoided, Reader.  The systems running the world are too vast, too interwoven, and too not-in-our control.  That is why the quote above struck such a chord with me, and I wish I could remember the man’s name.  Simplicity is Power. It is possible to simplify your life right out of most of their broken systems if you try.  I often advocate it in these articles.  Reducing one’s footprint and reliance on their systems lends a whole lot of peace of mind.  Being more self-sufficient, living with less, getting rid of credit, using simple technologies, exercising common sense.  One of the biggies people often overlook is conducting an assessment of potential threats; fallout maps, flood plains, weather hazards, etc.  It is not so hard to learn how much ash depth you’ll be shoveling if Yellowstone blows, and if your vegetables will survive. Let’s hope all those people sheltering in place at least know which way the wind blows.   

I will encourage you also, to consider the matter from another perspective, and ask “if our complex world is just one giant tinderbox out of control, then what on Earth is holding it all together?”  It only takes a couple of airplanes clipping wings over the South China Sea to possibly start a war, after all.  At some moment, somewhere, someone is going to be like the trigger man on Lexington Green who kicked off the Revolution.  Just like in 1776, the potential energy of Chaos in recent years is off the charts, so why hasn’t it blown yet?  The answer to that, I truly believe, is the restraining hand of God himself. 

What will it be like when He removes that Hand?  Literally like Hell breaking loose. Is that what they were inviting at Superbowl halftime? A sobering thought as these days count down.  In Philippines we are watching the sky, studying the Scriptures, and considering all of the above on a daily basis.  Uncle Sam wants to move in military equipment, China wants to encroach the outer islands, and we even had our own balloon incident a while back. But it is God Almighty who reigns supreme. 

As always, I urge everyone reading this to conduct their lives not in a spirit of fear, but a spirit of calm assurance.  Know in whom your salvation rests. Whatever is in store will surely be exciting. We are watching Turkey and Syria with great interest too. It is an amazing time to be alive, Readers.

Peace be upon you in Christ,

Visayas Outpost